


Effigies

by Ariasune



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: AU - Daemonverse, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, Daemonverse, Gen, His Dark Materials - Freeform, Other, daemon AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-02-06 04:23:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1844284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariasune/pseuds/Ariasune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His Dark Materials AU, Unsorted Character One-shots. </p><p>Always open to suggestions on which character(s) or pairing(s) to focus on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Yuugi & Tomoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuugi's daemon is named Tomoe and is a Kuroten Japanese Marten. Atem's daemon's name is not currently known, but is an Egyptian Mongoose. Both their daemons are male, and are believed by the public to simply be the one unsettled Tomoe.
> 
> It is possible for either daemon to be physically present, but not both, and they do not manifest in the translucent form that Yuugi or Atem can take.

Yuugi has settled, not that you would know it. Tomoe is – according to the fan blogs – a beast possessed in the heat of a duel, shifting from a delicate orange Kuroten Marten to a regal Egyptian Mongoose. The Other Tomoe is sharp, and where Yuugi’s Tomoe sits at his shoulders, tucks in close to his collar, this Other Tomoe is taunt at the Pharaoh’s feet. Even the clean orange fur Yuugi winds his fingers through absently changes to a bristling grey.

Yuugi does not touch the Other Tomoe – it would be wrong – but then neither does Pharaoh.

The Other Tomoe is trotting by Yuugi’s side, his own Tomoe no where in sight, “Guess Tomoe and Other Me are staying indoors today,” Yuugi pitches to Other Tomoe, who glances at him with an irritated gaze, "Are they exploring your soul room?"

“I guess,” Other Tomoe says pointedly, and outpaces Yuugi to the schoolgates, leaving Yuugi well behind him.

Other Tomoe is cold – colder than Pharaoh by far, but they seem to get along well enough. They suit each other in an off-balanced way, as though Other Tomoe knows something the Spirit doesn't, or perhaps that's just the aura of mystery clinging to the daemon. After-all, he acts much more like Pharaoh before he was even the Spirit of the Puzzle, and was simply the darker Yuugi. Other Tomoe is angry with Yuugi, but then he is angry with the Pharaoh just as often, and they seem fine - sure, they don’t touch, which is, “Strange.”

“What is?” Other Tomoe circles back to heel by Yuugi’s slow walk, “Of course we don’t touch,” Other Tomoe has a habit of responding to question Yuugi hasn’t asked. He thinks perhaps Tomoe and Other Tomoe talk like he does with Pharaoh, but he would no sooner ask that, then why the Spirit and his daemon do not touch.

“Of… course?” Yuugi repeats.

“Kings do not need their effigies; they are stronger than that,” Other Tomoe sounds annoyed, probably even is, “You’re weak for needing your animal likeness so close.”

“That’s just lonely,” Yuugi argues.

“Maybe he’s just better than you,” Other Tomoe smirks, and is off walking ahead, pulling at the bind of daemon and human just because it yanks Yuugi’s chain.

When they get to school, Tomoe scampers up Yuugi’s jeans, and curls up around his neck, “Don’t pay him much attention,” Pharaoh advises in embarrassment, scruffing at his translucent sleeves, “He’s always been a rude thing.”

“That makes you rude,” Tomoe hisses in a stage-whisper at the Spirit, and curls in closer to Yuugi to sniff affectionately at his hair, “Really ignore him – he’s jealous," Yuugi almost bats Tomoe away, but out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he catches something too close to longing, to sharp at the bone in the Spirit's face, and rubs Tomoe under the jaw gently.


	2. Mokuba & Suitengu

Suitengu rolls over, changing from armadillo to kitten, and bumps against Miyazu roughly, “Mi-nee-sama,” Suitengu whines, batting at the elegant leopard cat, “When is Seto going to stop-”

“He’ll stop when he’s good and down,” Miyazu flips Suitengu over, and licks at her fur, “Will you quit changing, Tengu!” She protests as Suitengu’s fur transfigures into snake scales under her tongue, “Urgh,” Miyazu hops to her feet, stalking under Seto’s desk and curling resolutely into her cat bed.

“Mi-nee-sama!” Suitengu follows right after Miyazu, he shuffles into an odd bird and pecks at Seto’s daemon.

“Mokuba,” Kaiba winces, and the quick tapping of his fingers halts, “Can you deal with this?”

Mokuba is lying back on a couch in Seto’s office, legs swinging lightly as he toys with his DS, “Hm?” He looks away from his game, and pulls a headphone out, “Did you say something?”

“We’re really busy,” Miyazu growls, batting a soft-paw, claws tucked, at Suitengu, “Tengu won’t leave us alone.”

"I'm just playing," Tengu objects, offended and Miyazu once more bowls him over, and knocks the younger daemon into the cat bed. Immediately, Miyazu is up on Seto's desk, settling next to him and studying the laptop.

"Mi is right Mokuba," Seto says reluctantly, as Suitengu flutters up on top of the desk hopefully, "We're not going to be done in time for dinner if Tengu keeps this up," He waves a hand, "Why don't you two go play elsewhere-" Seto cuts off mid-sentence and Miyazu, unphased, continues for him.

"Elsewhere, then we'll be ready in time for dinner," Miyazu flicks an ear back, "No no no," She hisses at the screen, "What did you do? I looked away for a moment Seto!"

Seto and Miyazu dissolve into an intricate argument that Mokuba feels unwelcome to, so he scuttles over to bundle Suitengu into his arms. Just in time, Tengu is a kitten once more, butt wriggling as he advanced on the distracted Miyazu. "Hey no fair-" Suitengu objects, and Mokuba rolls his eyes as they leave.

They take two lefts - Tengu wriggles out and follows behind Mokuba - they take another right, and are finally out of Seto’s earshot. They'd been less careful as young children. Certainly Seto had come quickly, summoned by their sniffles and tears, but he'd been up until six in the morning, his eyes lifeless over a cup of coffee. They have the art of not bothering Seto down to an artform, and they are truly out of hearing, before Mokuba rounds on his daemon, “You didn’t have to annoy her, Tengu..”

“I miss them,” Suitengu is an apologetic puppy, staring sadly at the floor, and Mokuba hunkers down to ruffle his ears miserably.

"I do too, and now we're not even allowed to sit with him whilst he works."

But there is sometimes no reasoning with a daemon - especially an unsettled one - and Suitengu is limp, hapless with emotion, "I miss them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mokuba's daemon is unsettled due to youth, but is named Suitengu. They often call him - yes another same-gender daemon - Tengu for short. Seto's daemon is a Tsushima Leopard Cat named Miyazu, and whilst Seto and Mokuba call her Mi, few others have the distinction of being able to do so.


	3. Malik & Isra

When Isra settles, Malik is pulled away from her, until she begins to make out the difference between his scream and hers.

Their bond is strained tight, and Isra - her large ears quivering, eyes round, yowling for  _her_ soul feels the snap. It rebounds against her hard, and she is on the floor. Rishid hovers over her, uncertain whether to cup his brother's motionless daemon in his arms or not, his daemon Hadjara pacing back and forth urgently. Malik - elsewhere - doesn't feel the break, which is the whole problem. Quickly his back is sliced apart, whilst his insides are cold and he cannot feel it past the sheer nothing of the moment.

The ritual is exacting, and as Malik lies, healing from the scars on his back, Isra is placed at his side. Still unconscious, she shakes uncontrollably, trembling against him.

She is the gaping wound, and when he wakes up, he shoves her onto the floor and howls like a wild animal.

Eventually Rishid enters, sees Isra whining haplessly on the floor, and picks her up without fuss. The time for that is over, but Malik, who would judder and twitch when his father grabbed Isra by her scruff, just watches blankly as Rishid lays Isra back down at Malik's side.

* * *

"She is a handsome thing," Bakura notes, and where others might flinch at the objectification of their own soul, Malik simply shrugs and grabs Isra from her place at his neck. He sets her down in Bakura's lap, raises an eyebrow questioningly, and returns his attention to sorting his deck.

Bakura raises a hand, seemingly toying with the idea of touching Isra's fur. Isra is certainly expecting it, head twisted so one eye studies Bakura. He's never heard her speak, and is left disappointed when she is not forthcoming. He lowers his hand away from her, even though the urge to twist his fingers in her fur - just to see if Malik will react - is palpable.

Bakura rubs a lazy fingertip over the shell of Amunet's ear, and she snarls at Malik as though daring him to even think of approaching her, "A fennec fox?"

"Hm," Malik eyes Bakura, "Yes, she is."

"But she won't tell me her name," Amunet cuts to the chase, and Bakura smiles at her affectionately. She has, in all their years, never been anything but direct, to the point of pride and painful joy. Bakura ruffles her fur.

"Isra," Malik answers boredly, and Bakura runs his little finger against Isra's tail. Malik - still focused on his cards - doesn't look up. Bakura's not even sure Malik  _feels_ it, but Isra twists to snap at Bakura, and he once more leaves her be.

"Pretty name," Bakura decides, and buries his hand in Amunet's glossy fur.

* * *

He turns on his father, gleefully, and Isra is lying flat on the floor, convulsing, eyes glazed.

He works quickly, moving in jagged pleased slices. Each one is a hieroglyph, Malik's own memories to protect, and Isra twitches with no rhythm to it. Her movements are surgically removed from Malik's, and make nonsense of the bond between daemon and person. Eventually, yes, Malik comes back to himself, but he makes sure to kick her before he would think better of it. 

Rishid watches him do so, and Malik licks the sharp blade of the Millennium Rod in response to it. Isra is back a moment later, and Rishid bundles her into his bloody arms.

* * *

 Malik's mind is loose from his body - Bakura would scarcely call that thing Malik - but unlike with him, Ryou, or any other examples of split mind he has known, Isra does not come with Malik. No, the fox is instead left with the darker one; eyes glazed milky-white and body jerking as though electrocuted. Malik's darkness seems to find her infinitely amusing, and Bakura hears a definite thump as Isra is tossed about Malik's quarters.

"You're severed, aren't you?" Bakura asks, hand tightening in Amunet's guard hair, "Amu could steal her off your dark side," Bakura offers after an uncomfortable moment.

"He'd just grab your own daemon."

"And I'd switch out to Izanami," Amunet points out easily, but Bakura's fingers clutch even tighter. No hand, save his own, has been laid on Amunet since the attack on his birth home, and he cringes, unable to help it, at the very idea of it.

"We won't risk that," Bakura insists, and Malik doesn't answer again, but Amunet winds herself close to Bakura's feet, sensing his fear. She doesn't suggest stealing again, and neither does Bakura. Later, with Malik's darkness waving Isra around like an old rag, they both exchange a look that says they should have risked it.

* * *

 

"These are the secrets the Ishtar family has preserved," Isra announces, voice clear as though she has spoken every day for the past six years, "Please look upon them," And she leaps full-length into Malik's arms, curling close to his bare chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Malik's daemon is a fennec fox by the name of Isra, however they were severed as part of the ritual, and since then Isra has not spoken. Furthermore, when Malik's alterego is calling the shots, Isra suffers from medium to low convulsions, and falls unconscious.
> 
> Rishid's daemon is named Hadjara, sometimes just called Jara, and is a Striped Hyena. 
> 
> Bakura's daemon is a Jackal by the name of Amunet, who he affectionately refers to as Amu.


	4. Bakura & Amunet

He crouches down to her level, and bumps his forehead to hers, "You know what to do?" The ancient - extinct - Jackal presses in close towards him, her tail stiff and hackles pricking.

"Take everything," Amunet states, and grins wolfishly, "Leave nothing."

"Good girl," Bakura murmured, scruffing his hands at her ears. His fingers twine tightly, and she almost whines, the sound blurring between them. They're unwilling to part, to lose those fine points of contact between them, "May the Gods be with you," Their ritual.

"Fuck the Gods," Her part of it, and she laughs, but it sounds so sad to him.

They finish together, "We've never needed them before."

With that, Amunet breaks his hold violently, streaking away into the dark city. Something in him is still wounded as he watches her go, something is unbearably afraid she will not return to him. He clamps down on the feeling, curling his fingers into fists, remembering the feel of Amunet's fur.

* * *

He enters the throne room, sarcophagus behind him, and Amunet practically wrapped about his legs. This is what seems to catch the eye of the entire court. To touch one's daemon so blatantly, in public, relishing the feel of one's effigy soul against oneself- it is practically like touching oneself in the open. It is obscene.

It is hard to walk with Amunet bumping against him with each firm step, and as soon as his hands are free, he bunches his fingers in the fur at her neck. Relief sparks through him, spitting and flickering. Amunet pulls her head back and howls to the priests and the King, and when she finishes with a clip of her teeth, the entire room is murmuring.

"Now we have their attention," Amunet growls smugly and Bakura ruffles her ears.

"I think dragging a casket in here did that well enough, Amu."

"Taking all the credit, again," Amunet presses herself to him, and she bares her teeth at the Pharaoh, his mongoose daemon bristling at her. They had discussed this - at no point will they initiate a daemon duel - the Pharaoh's effigy is large, and quick as a snake. Amunet is a slender, and skinny egyptian jackal, relative to the wolf, and would be evenly matched. This is not good enough, they feel.

Besides, how would Amunet advance on that daemon, when she is leaning against Bakura and his hand is buried in her fur.

* * *

The night is charred black and burning red, and Amunet is a whirl of shapes when she is seized. The soldier is not an ordained priest, and has no business touching souls, but nevertheless Amunet shudders, as she is dragged back. Bakura feels paralysis cut into him, but runs.

Pulls at their bond. Yanks reams of it loose. He slows to a stagger as the bond asserts itself, but there is the scream of his village, and he pulls forward. Draws the bond out. Amunet's voice is wordless in his head, pleading, and he begs back-

But the chain between them unlatches, each ratchet movement painful-

The dull thud along the bond sends a shudder up Bakura's spine, as Amunet settles; she turns on the soldier who has profaned her flesh, and turns herself blasphemous by touching him. Chews his face off. With that, she startles, running into the night until-

And it's sweet, burning in his mouth with it, as he clings to her. Hands circling her neck, choking and she huffs and wheezes and whines and his hands tighten. She presses closer, trying to merge their bodies, take herself back inside his heart where she is safe. The night is dark and the fire is bright, and they cower against the wall as their world burns around them. But they are together and it is sweet and whole and she loves him, he loves her, they are whole. Changed but whole.

* * *

Bakura is young and hungry, and Amunet bumps their foreheads together, jarring them, "I'll be back soon, my own," She whines, because Bakura is young and starving and she is nimble, quick; flicker feet and bright teeth.

"May the Gods watch over you," Bakura says after a moment, and their conjoined heart splices, fissures. The burn that leeches through them is unbearable.

"Fuck the Gods," Amunet growls.

"We've never needed them before."

**Author's Note:**

> Yuugi's daemon is named Tomoe and is a Kuroten Japanese Marten. Atem's daemon's name is not currently known, but is an Egyptian Mongoose. Both their daemons are male, and are believed by the public to simply be the one unsettled Tomoe.
> 
> It is possible for either daemon to be physically present, but not both, and they do not manifest in the translucent form that Yuugi or Atem can take.


End file.
